In order to maintain freshness of foods to be stored in the some refrigerators, a separate freshness-retaining chamber has been prepared so that users can use it selectively. In general, various kinds of the foods have been stored in these refrigerators. However, since the users cannot keep the kinds of the stored foods in mind without omission, they should unnecessarily open and close a door of the refrigerator in order to confirm as to what kinds of the stored foods has been stored in the refrigerator. By confirming the foods stored in the refrigerator in this way, unnecessary consumption of electric energy due to the opening and closing of the door has been produced. In addition, since the foods are spoiled in a case where they are still stored even after a storage period has been passed, waste of the foods has been often produced.
In order to solve the above problems, a refrigerator in which internal foods stored therein can be confirmed from the outside of the refrigerator has been disclosed in FIG. 1.
As shown in FIG. 1, the conventional refrigerator comprises a microcomputer 10 which includes a ROM for recording kinds, quantities and storage periods of contents, a RAM, and a timer in order to control a system capable of confirming and monitoring information on the kinds of the foods stored in the refrigerator from the outside, and a microcomputer enable portion 30 for applying a pulse to the microcomputer to successively increase an address. Further, it comprises a selective input portion 50 for inputting information of the contents, such as kinds, quantities and storage periods of the contents, into the RAM of the microcomputer 10. Furthermore, the conventional refrigerator comprises a data buffer 60 and an address decoder 70 that transmit information on the contents and addresses of the microcomputer 10 to a display portion 80, respectively.
Accordingly, in the conventional refrigerator, the kinds of the contents and the like displayed on the display portion 80 can be confirmed by pressing down a toggle switch SW2 of the microcomputer enable portion 30 of the microcomputer, when the users intend to confirm information on the contents themselves and on the kinds, quantities and storage periods of the contents, which is recorded in the RAM of the microcomputer 10, from the outside of the refrigerator.
That is, when the toggle switch SW2 is pressed down after the microcomputer 10 has been initialized by pressing down a reset switch SW3 of a reset portion 40, address data A0-A15 of a first address are decoded to the decoder 70 and inputted into the display portion 80. Subsequently, data D0-D7 of the relevant address recorded in the RAM pass through the buffer 60; and the kinds, quantities and storage periods of the relevant contents are then displayed on the display portion 80.
Through these processes, the conventional refrigerator has been used in such a manner that information on the contents put into the refrigerator are stored into a memory and shared with all the users. Further, in the conventional refrigerator constructed as such, the foods stored in the refrigerator can be confirmed from the outside without unnecessarily opening and closing the door of the refrigerator.
On the other hand, a plurality of food groups stored in the conventional refrigerator are displayed on the display portion 80 which has been set in a state that information on the food groups has been already inputted and stored.
That is, in order to input the information on the stored foods into the RAM of the microcomputer 10, the conventional refrigerator has utilized a plurality of keys provided on the selective input portion 50, as shown in FIG. 2. The selective input portion 50 includes an input key 50a, an arrow key 50b, a select key 50c, a delete key 50d, etc.
The input of specific characters through the selective input portion 50 constructed as such is performed by the following process. When an apple, as an example, is to be stored in a refrigerating chamber, a character screen is displayed on the display portion 80 by selecting the input key 50a. On the character screen to be displayed at this time, a keyboard for the characters (consonants and vowels of the Korean or English alphabets) that has been already set in accordance with regions and countries where the refrigerators are used are displayed.
Thereafter, the user moves a cursor to a position of a desired character among the keyboard for the characters displayed on the display portion 80 by using the arrow key 50b, and then creates the character “apple” by selecting the select key 50c. On the other hand, when the character has been erroneously created, the user again moves the cursor to the desired position by using the arrow key 50b and deletes the erroneous character by using the delete key 50d. 
Accordingly, in the conventional refrigerator, recording of information or data on the stored foods through the selective input portion 50 should have been performed whenever the foods have been put into and stored in the refrigerator. However, since this recording should pass through the processes of creating the desired characters by successively selecting them, inputting and storing the characters, there was a problem in that it takes a long time to record the characters.
That is, in a case of the character “apple,” the alphabets such as “a,” “p,” “p,” “l,” and “e” should be successively selected. Further, whenever the respective alphabets are selected, the procedures for inputting or touching the arrow key 50b and the select key 50c should be performed. Further, if the erroneous inputs occur during the procedures, several keys such as the arrow key 50b and the delete key 50d should be used over and over. Therefore, there was also a problem in that the procedures are troublesome and time-consuming.
Moreover, since the display portion 80 provided on the refrigerator is made a small screen, it was difficult to input the characters into the display portion and correct the characters thereon. Due to this difficulty, use of a function for displaying the information on the stored foods cannot be sufficiently induced. Consequently, there was a problem in that the display function becomes an unnecessary one.
In addition, since the keyboard for the characters suitable to the countries or regions where the conventional refrigerator is used should be displayed on the display portion, character displays for all kinds of the languages should be able to be made in the refrigerator to be sold. Therefore, there was a problem in that the above causes capacity of a memory device for storing the characters to be expanded and manufacturing costs of the refrigerator to be increased.